Open source backup and recovery firm Zmanda, based in Sunnyvale,
Calif., wants Small to medium-size businesses to know there is room for
SMB data protection in the cloud.
Because putting together a
comprehensive data protection strategy can be difficult for midmarket
companies, the company positions Zmanda Cloud Backup (ZCB) as
simplifying the process.
ZCB is aimed at small businesses that need data backup and disaster
recovery for Microsoft Exchange and SQL Servers. The solution backs up
the entire Windows environment to a public storage cloud, such as the
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). ZCB uses GUI-based backup solution
that allows Windows users to automate their backup and recovery
process, backing up files, applications, databases, networked devices
and Windows system state, including Active Directory, to Amazon S3.

"Zmanda Cloud Backup is the most complete Windows-based cloud backup
solution on the market," said Zmanda CEO Chander Kant. "It's an
affordable, pay-as-you-grow solution that provides users with the
reassurance that backups of their applications and data are stored
offsite, yet available anytime from anywhere with Internet access."
The management console allows system administrators to schedule the
extraction of backup data from live applications and the upload of
backup archives to the storage cloud independently, streamlining the
onerous task of backup operations on production applications and WAN
bandwidth. ZCB can also be used to protect either a physical or a
virtual Windows machine. The backups are stored in a native Windows
format, giving users the option to access and reuse their files even
without ZCB.

Henry Baltazar, storage analyst at the industry analyst company The 451
Group, said system administrators who work within SMBs have
extraordinary demands placed on them. "While adequate data protection
is of course critical for SMBs, simplicity, ease of use and reliability
are equally important," he said. "That's why we believe SMBs will
increasingly turn to secure offsite, cloud-based backup and recovery
services such as Zmanda Cloud Backup to protect their business critical
applications and data."

The price for ZCB with a basic service level agreement (SLA) consists
of a one-time $50 charge for each Windows server protected and a
pay-as-you-go cost of $0.20 per gigabyte per month for storage used and
data transferred into the storage cloud. Higher-level SLAs are also
available for an additional charge.

As anyone running an enterprise-level company or an SMB knows, keeping
files, applications, databases, e-mail and networked devices protected
to ensure business continuity and compliance is a mission-critical
aspect of business. Data protection can be time consuming because as a
business matures and grows, the volume of data increases and newer and
more complex data retention requirements are introduced.

A cloud-based solution such as Zmanda's, working in an open-source
architecture and tied to a scalable data storage infrastructure such as
Amazon S3, gives midmarket companies another reason to seriously
consider cloud-based services as a way to reduce costs and simplify the
complex nature of data storage and backup for a growing small business.

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.